It’s hard to believe there will be room, but Tolli Rasmussen, left, and DeNita Freeman are opening a Scooter’s Coffeehouse for franchisee Pat Do on the northwest corner of Second and Washington in Old Town.
Brian Corn
The Wichita Eagle

It’s hard to believe there will be room, but Tolli Rasmussen, left, and DeNita Freeman are opening a Scooter’s Coffeehouse for franchisee Pat Do on the northwest corner of Second and Washington in Old Town.
Brian Corn
The Wichita Eagle

Scooter’s Coffeehouse franchisee Pat Do to add 3 new sites, including 2 downtown

Three new Scooter’s Coffeehouses are in the works for Wichita including, perhaps surprisingly, two for downtown.

“It’s an exciting project,” says franchisee Tolli Rasmussen.

“It seems like we’re doing them all at once, but they all kind of came in different stages.”

Rasmussen owns the Scooter’s sites at 135th and Maple and at Newman University.

Pat Do, the physician who founded Mid-America Orthopedics, owns the Scooter’s in Andover at Kellogg and Andover and will own the three new ones.

That includes the Scooter’s at Union Station, which was previously announced by another owner who was going to do the project at Douglas and Rock Island.

Do also is going to build a new Scooter’s at the northwest corner of Second and Washington in Old Town and at Wilson Estates Medical Park near 21st and Webb Road.

“I’ve taken over the operations and then the new development,” Rasmussen says. “We make a good partner.”

Another franchisee has three other Scooter’s sites.

“Each store is going to be a little bit different,” Rasmussen says of hours and what each will offer.

“We’re going to have different rush hours, if you will, in each one of those locations.”

She says the plan is to adapt to each environment to what customers want.

The new building at Second and Washington will be in front of Jason-Paul Febres’future Gianni Bacci’s modern-day speakeasy and tapas bar. Scooter’s double-drive-through kiosk will sit on the corner. There likely will be room for a bit of outside seating, but there will be none inside.

Rasmussen says that Scooter’s could open as early as 5 a.m. to serve downtown workers as they go to their offices. It may stay open later, too, to attract late-night revelers.

The Scooter’s at Union Station will have a drive-through and indoor seating along with possibly a few tables outside.

With both downtown Scooter’s sites, Rasmussen says the goal is to accommodate guests who may want to linger at different times of the day.

“We want them to be able to come in and hang out.”

At Wilson Estates, the outdoor seating area will be a big focus.

“There’s going to be a really great patio out front,” Rasmussen says. “It’s going to really be phenomenal.”

Look for more specifics on the Wilson Estates site in the coming months. That Scooter’s may not open until the fall. The one at Second and Washington could open within 90 days.

Rasmussen says there are about 120 Scooter’s sites in nine states.

“It’s just the right time to stretch the brand,” she says.

The stores sell a variety of coffee, smoothies, specialty drinks, green teas, pastries and breakfast burritos. A new lunch sandwich will be added to menus soon.

“It’s a great product,” Rasmussen says of Scooter’s, “and the more stores that you have, the better awareness you have.”